Dear colleagues,
I wanted to provide an update on pay and benefits. As you may remember, we communicated earlier in the semester that the Kansas Legislature approved $1.8 million for our FY26 compensation plan from the State General Fund. This money, in addition to an approximately $1.5 million from the rest of the university’s budget — for a total of $3.3 million investment in compensation — will be used to fund market-based pay adjustments in FY26.
Wichita State’s Market-Based Compensation (MBC) program is a comprehensive compensation plan focused on creating internal and external pay equity and a cornerstone of our campus culture strategy. This year, we established the following MBC goals:
For staff members
- We want to ensure all staff are brought to the minimum of their FY26 pay range.
- Adjust pay for prioritized staff jobs to move them closer to the appropriate quartile within their pay range.
For faculty members
- Bring faculty salaries to the newly established floor/minimum base salary.
- Faculty who were promoted for FY26 have been prioritized for additional market adjustment analysis. Once this analysis has been completed, any changes will be applied retroactively to the beginning of the FY26 appointment.
- In addition, the promotional amount for tenure track and non-tenure track faculty earning a promotion or professor incentive review was increased to a flat rate for all promotions. The tiered promotional amounts have been eliminated.
Managers will communicate the details of these pay changes to their respective employees throughout June. Employees who will receive an MBC pay increase will see it reflected in the paycheck dated July 3, 2025, for the pay period of June 8, 2025, through June 21, 2025.
In addition to pay, WSU is committed to consistent improvement to health benefits for all employees. To that end, through our state partnership, the university has covered increases in health benefits for the past six years, resulting in no increase to employee premiums.
As we look back on this academic year, I want to thank each one of you for your hard work and commitment to our students and the success of every aspect of the university you touch.
Go Shockers!
President Rick Muma
